AlecFish

Update: I decided to go with the 6'6 Pflueger President medium combo as it is the most practical and economical choice for me. I plan on upgrading to the Fenwick HMG once they start to go on sale or other similar rods. Thanks for all the help!

Alright, I've narrowed down to the Berkley lightning rod shock and the St. Croix Triumph X combo. From what I can tell both rods perform similarly, and I can't find much info on the Triumph X in general. Does the 50$ lightning rod even compare to the 100$ triumph x? If I go with the lightning rod, I could probably splurge a little bit and go for the pflueger president which would be nice. But then again, I don't know if I'd be missing out on the Triumph X deal.

Wow, those do seem like some good deals. I have no idea how to use a baitcaster, but if it's the better deal, it might be worth it to learn. Do you know which action I should go for? I don't quite understand how their labeled on the website You can trade rods in? Didn't know that. Again, what action do you recommend? Medium, or medium heavy? Also, does it make an impact on performance if the rod is 1 or 2 pieces?

Gotcha, I actually live near a bass pro, not a cabela's, if that changes anything.

Altogether I'd be willing to spend $100 on a rod and reel. Yeah the Pflueger's are pretty nice, I've got a buddy who runs with one of those. Are there any cheaper options out there that compare to the pflueger's? The KastKing's on amazon with a good price, don't know how people think about them on here though. How is the backbone on the elites? All the ugly stiks I've had have had little to no backbone, curious to see if they changed Cabela's and Dicks sporting goods are the only semi-close fishing stores around me. Any idea on times when they tend to go on sale? I've heard a lot of good things about Fenwick's in my research, especially with the HMG's and HMX's. I've been researching other cheaper rods and I have a few ideas. And I'd hopefully like to learn more on them -Berkley lightning rods, I hear these are good beater rods. What's the difference, if any between the lightning rod shock and the regular? -BPS bionic blade, on sale on the website for $70. There are various options, available, not sure what the differences are. -Abu Garcia Vengence combos at dicks are $50 with a rebate. From the type of fishing I'll be doing what type of action and power should I be looking for?

Beating a dead horse here. I'm in the process of looking for a good all around spinning rod combo. I'm not really in the mood of spending $200+ on multiple rods and reels. Although they may be better optimized for different fishing styles, with the amount of fishing I do, and money I think one or two rods is enough for me. I'm looking for a rod/reel combo to target bass, in a variety of of conditions and hope to be fishing with weightless senkos and rubber worms. bass jigs, chatterbaits and topwater and maybe a lightweight crankbait. I want something that's sensitive yet, has a good backbone. Any suggestions?

Hello All. I'm located up in the lakes region and I'm having great difficulty getting bass. I mainly fish on large ponds and small lakes. Pemigewasset and Wicwas to name a couple. It's your typical North Eastern lake relatively weedy and it's deepest point is about 40 feet. I actually went out today and managed three annoying pickerel. No bass. I was mostly using topwater lures like the floating rapala and the heddon spook jr. But with all the vegetation grown in it makes it so difficult to get in there. I tried a simple 6" texas rigged rubber worm dragged on the bottom in around 15ft of water but that didn't seem to get any interest. Later, I tried a super fluke but again no interest. I was using my fish finder and I noticed the surface temp was 80# degrees! Insane! This makes me think the bass are down deep so I guess, the question I'm eluding to is how do you fish deep water? I know shallow water can produce large fish but with all the vegetation it's so tedious. I'm still learning but it's so frustrating going out on a seemingly perfect day only to catch nothing. Maybe some of you can point me in the right direction on what lures/baits to use in the dog days of summer in New England.

Yeah the line looks frayed for some reason and it keeps on splitting at the tip, it's like impossible to tie anything. Does it matter if I go with #20 or #30 power pro? Just got some #30 PP to match the 8lb mono. I'll tie a uni straight to the lure and post results tomorrow after I go out!

Huh. I was under the impression braid was the strongest line out there, even with toothy fish. Is braid more durable than mono, if you were to test #10 braid vs #10 mono which would have more strength to pull through weeds and pull in those hawgs Its a medium spinning setup. I tend to use #8-#10 mono so I'll look into #30, I had no idea! I just want to make sure.. Is it fine to tie braid directly to a lure/swivel or do you need some sort of leader? Also, do different brands have an effect, I've heard a lot of people using Power Pro? It has to be the knot. Just today a lunker 4 inch yellow perch stole my jig... Let that sink in...sink in... haha get it I followed this video on the palomer knot: Can you give me some advice on the proper way, another has suggested lubricating the line/knot beforehand I did not do that, which could be a source for breakage. Should I be tying something different? Unfortunately where I live there is quite the abundance of pickerel and they go after anything, there's always a chance they could bite the line. Other than hooking up a wire leader that could reduce my sensitivity and finesse to lures, what can I do?

Hello all, I have recently switched to braid for this season and I'm not having good experiences with it. After a little backing of mono, I put 15lb EZ Spiderwire braid on my reel and I've lost $40 in lures. I mainly use snap swivels and I don't know if that's the reason, it just makes it easier for me to swap lures on the fly without having to re-tie. I went in thinking braid would be able to handle anything, every time I hook up with a pickerel the line breaks at the swivel. Pickerel have a pretty good set of teeth but I thought braid this thick should be able to handle them. I never had problems like this even with 8-10lb mono so, what the hell is going on? I have no idea what I'm doing wrong, I'm tying the palomer knot on the swivel which is sought out to be a pretty good knot.

Up here in the Lakes region winni still has quite a bit of ice and all the small lakes/ponds are loaded with ice. I'm hoping the weather stays as warm as it has been the past couple days so I can get out there!

I'm actually a kayak Fisherman, I have a tarpon 120 rig and a trolling motor mounted. I can get pretty much anywhere and the heavy cover is usually where the big ones hang out at. It seems like 20lb is the best bet so I'll just go with that, I found some pretty cheap stuff KastKing on Amazon 300yds for $17. As far as backing goes, what Lb mono should I do and how much should I put on?

Thanks! It looks like an great forum. Whoa, equivalent to 6lb, that's crazy. Any particular brands or is it all pretty much the same? Also, when it comes to spooling it on the reel since braid is particularly expensive is it fine to put a mono backing on it?

Hello all, Bass fishing season is nearly upon us in New England and I need to start getting ready now. This is my first go on using braid on a spinning setup so it'll be interesting to see how that works. What pound test of braid would you recommend for a '30 size' spinning reel? Where I fish the vegetation can be pretty thick and I'm tired of line breakage due to heavy vegetation.